The Human Rights Committee of the UN General Assembly passed 99-52 a resolution calling for an end to the death penalty. The resolution was sponsored by EU states and 60 other countries. It must still be submitted to the 192-member General Assembly next month. If approved, the resolution would be non-binding, but is intended to send a strong moral message.
Many opponents to the resolution, which include the United States, Syria, Barbados, and Iran, cited issues of national sovereignty in their objections.
Two proposed death penalty moratoriums have previously reached the floor of the General Assembly, in 1994 and 1999.
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